Have the conversation. It’s all about the mission.

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All discussions should be grounded in your mission/vision/values. Include them on all staff and board meeting agendas if you don't already. Post on the wall in meeting spaces. On the homepage. In your email signature and on your business cards.

 

When you begin your conversations about making significant structural changes to your organization, you will want to be clear about the reasons for these discussions. Are you concerned about your immediate viability? Are changes happening in your community: new competition; loss of, or lack of diversity in, audience members or donors; shifts in population? Your executive or Board leadership and energy may be dissipating. You may be at a point where your mission has been completed or has shifted. Or you may be diving into your regular strategic planning. In each case, it’s critical that everyone involved understand why you’re initiating this process of exploration.

 

Speaking of everyone involved – who is “everyone”? It’ll be different for each organization, but you likely need your Board, staff, key partners, advisors, and stakeholders at the table. In some situations, you may need to be more circumspect – you don’t want rumors or unfounded concerns floating out in the community. But, over the last year or so, we’ve all learned to talk more openly about difficult subjects and drop silo walls, so include as many good minds as you can. If staff are involved, be clear on when they are providing information and advice and when they are (or are not) being part of the decision-making.

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STAKEHOLDERS

A stakeholder is any person, organization, social group, or even society at large that has a stake in your organization. Therefore, stakeholders can be internal and/or external to the organization. A ‘stake’ is considered a vital interest in the business or the organization's activities. Stakeholders can be affected by a business or organization and can themselves affect a business.

 

A stakeholder might be a customer or user, an employee, an investor, granting agency or funder, a community or community representative, local, county, state, or federal government organization. Typically, you are accountable to stakeholders to some degree.

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Prepping: gather the information everyone will need. Don’t make any assumptions about what you’ll decide to do – use this Toolkit to help you weigh your structural and legal options. Make sure your mission statement is front and center.

 

Other materials you’ll likely want to provide:

• Most recent strategic plan/update

• Recent annual reports

• Board meeting minutes, board meeting attendance records, bylaws to review clauses related to mergers, closure, etc.

• List of programs and participation figures for the last two-three years, including as much specific data as possible

• Two-three years of financial information. In addition to P&L (Profit and Loss) statements and balance sheets, include anything that obligates the organization financially, such as contracts/leases, pledge documents, wages/accrued leave, grant contracts, and restricted funds; and include information about assets and property including an inventory, information about any endowment or reserve fund including their policies, and the amount of income they generate.

• Recent program evaluations, survey results, or anything that will help you weigh the value of your activities

 

This won’t be a quick process. You will probably need multiple board meetings, as well as one-on-one conversations. “Board members may be rigid in their nostalgia,” says Stephanie Plummer of the Nebraska Arts Council. “Especially if you have founding Board members or staff, this can bring up a lot of emotions. Talk through what their reservations and concerns are. Hear them out.” You may want to bring in an outside facilitator to be a neutral conversation leader, pose the difficult questions, and point out strengths and concerns that need to be stated aloud.